The Crown says the Sunrise Propane explosion in 2008 may have been an accident but that doesn't let the company off the hook.

There’s one thing the defence and Ontario Crown counsel agree on in the Sunrise Propane trial on regulatory charges: the 2008 Downsview explosion that killed one employee, rained down debris and caused the evacuation of thousands was a “tragic accident.”

But that’s where Crown counsel Nicholas Adamson parted ways with defence attorney Leo Adler in his closing arguments on Tuesday in the trial of Sunrise Propane and two of its directors, Shay Ben-Moshe and Valery Belahov. They have pleaded not guilty to numerous environmental and occupational health and safety charges, including failing to protect Parminder Singh Saini, who died on Aug. 10, 2008. A firefighter on the scene also died from a heart attack.

“In regulatory law, accident is not a defence,” said Adamson. The company had an obligation “to prevent an accident from occurring.”

Sunrise had the “ability to control everything that goes on in that yard,” said Adamson. “If you have management and control — in this case of the stuff that exploded, you commit a prohibited act.”

Directly disputing Monday’s assertion by Adler in his closing arguments that a “defective hose” caused a vapour leak which then ignited, Adamson said there was “no evidence” presented at trial to conclude that any defect could be blamed on the hose manufacturer.

Further, he pointed out that the engineer with the Ontario Fire Marshal’s office who testified at the trial earlier this year, linked the propane leak to either a defective hose used in an on-site truck to truck fuel transfer or a malfunction in a pump.

What it comes down to, said Adamson, is that it was “their hose. It was their pump.’’ The burden was on Sunrise Propane “to prevent leaks from happening due to defective parts. It’s not OK to be reactive.”

The Crown continues its closing arguments Thursday in the trial which started in February and has been on hiatus for several months.